Maurice Bellonte(Méru,Oise, 25 October 1896 –Paris, 14 January 1983) was a French aviator who set flight distance records.^[1]

Associated withDieudonné Costes, in 1930 he performed the first westbound crossing of theNorth Atlanticfrom Paris to New York, on board theBreguet XIXPoint dinterrogation.

Dieudonné Costes(14 November 1892 – 18 May 1973) was a French aviator who set flight distance records. He was also afighter aceduringWorld War I.

Early life and military service

Costes was born inSeptfonds,Tarn-et-Garonne. He received a pilot diploma (brevet) on 26 September 1912. During World War I, he served in the French Air Service, in MF55 and MF85Farmansquadrons, then in N506, N507 and N531 fighterNieuportsquadrons, on theBalkanfront. He scored 9 victories (6 confirmed) there, the first in April 1917, the rest in January–September 1918. He ended the war as a2nd Lieutenant.^{[1]ISBN978-0-948817-54-0.}

After the war, he flew in civil aviation, starting withLatecoerein 1920, on theToulouse-Casablancamail route, then flying on the Bordeaux-Paris route in 1921 and on the Paris-London route in Air Union airlines in 1923. From 1925, he became a test pilot inBreguetworks. He then started to perform long-distance and record breaking flights withBreguet 19aircraft.^{[citation needed]}

He was married to the actress Mary Costes (née Princess Vatchnadze).^{[citation needed]}

Long-distance flights

On 26 September 1926, he flew 4,100km (2,546 miles) from Paris toAssuan, with René de Vitrolles, attempting to break a world distance record. He broke the world distance record on 28 October 1926, flying 5,396km (3,351 miles) from Paris toJask,Persia, with J. Rignot, as part of a 19,625-km (12,187-mile) Paris-India-Paris flight.^{[citation needed]}

Between 10 October 1927 and 14 April 1928, Costes andJoseph Le Brixflew 57,410km (35,652 miles) around the world, in aBreguet 19GR namedNungesser-Coli, fromParisthroughArgentina,Brazil, theUnited States,Japan,India, andGreece, although they travelled across thePacific OceanfromSan Francisco,California, toTokyo, Japan, by ship.^{[2]During the trip, they made the first non-stop aerial crossing of theSouth Atlantic Oceanon 14–15 October 1927, flying betweenSaint-Louis,Senegal, andNatal, Brazil.[3]While inSouth America, they routed themselves through every country in the continent.[4]On 15–17 December 1928, Costes, withPaul Codos, set a world distance record in a closed circuit of 8,029km (4,986 miles).[citation needed]}

On 13 July 1929, Costes andMaurice Bellontemade an attempt at crossing theNorth Atlantic Oceanwestbound, fromVillacoublaynear Paris toNew York,New York, flying theBreguet 19 Super Bidon"?" ("Point dInterrogation" or "Question Mark"). They returned after 17 hours, however, due to bad weather. On 27–29 September 1929, they set the world distance record, flying 7,905km (4,909 miles) from Paris toQiqihar,China.^{[citation needed]}

On 1–2 September 1930, Costes with Maurice Bellonte, flew the "Point dInterrogation" from Paris to New York, as the firstheavier-than-airaircraft to reach New York in the more difficult westbound direction between theNorth AmericanandEuropeanmainlands. They covered either 5,850km (3,633 miles) or 6,200km (3,850 miles), according to different sources, in 37 hours 18 minutes. While flying overPortsmouth,New Hampshire, they lost their navigational map out of an open window of the plane. Two children saw the map falling from the sky while they were watching for the flight to cross over their farm. The children, Louise Stef and her brother John, returned the map to Costes, who had asked for its return through the media.^[5]

DuringWorld War II, Costes was an instructor in a pilots school inVersailles, with the rank oflieutenant colonel. He died on 18 May 1973 in Paris and is buried inPassy Cemetery.^{[citation needed]}

Awards

Costes received theLegion of Honour, theCroix de Guerrewith seven palms and a gold star, and theMédaille militaire, among other decorations. He also received the 1929Fédération Aéronautique InternationaleGold Medal and the 1929Harmon Trophy.^{[citation needed]}

On 2 May 1928, he was awarded theDistinguished Flying Crossby special act of the Congress of the United States in recognition of his historic around the world flight.^[6]